Someday
by Mindy35
Summary: CASKETT. Alexis pays Beckett a Mother's Day visit, triggering talk of Castle babies.


Title: Someday

Author: Mindy35

Rating: K+, required knowledge of the birds and the bees

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made.

Spoilers: Nothin' major…

Pairing: Castle/Beckett

Summary: Alexis pays Beckett a Mother's Day visit, triggering talk of Castle babies.

(A/N: Not sure this totally fits with the current direction they've taken with Alexis, it's influenced by some s4 events but draws more on the s3 interaction between Beckett and Castle surrounding his fatherhood. Let me know what you think.)

-x-x-x-

"Detective Beckett?"

Kate slipped the photos she'd been studying under the closest case file, swiveling in her chair to see Castle's daughter standing behind her, oozing uncertainty. "Alexis. Hey…are you looking for your dad? Because I think he's down at _The Haunt_ with the guys."

"Actually, I was looking for you," Alexis said, eyes darting over her cluttered desktop. "Are you busy?"

"No, no," she replied quickly, brows furrowing a little. "What's up? Is anything wrong?"

Alexis smiled at the underlying note of concern in her voice. "Everything's fine." She brought a hand out from behind her back, placing a small white gift bag on the corner of the desk. "I just wanted to give you…this."

Kate eyed the package, smiling bemusedly. "What's this?"

Alexis knit her fingers together, hesitating before saying, "I don't know if you know but it's Mother's Day today."

Kate gave a slow nod. "I did know, yeah."

"Well…I thought it might be a difficult day for you. I mean, with Gram, Gina, my mom and even my dad I have an oversupply of mothers in my life but I…couldn't imagine losing any one of them." Alexis paused then moved to the chair her father usually inhabited, sitting on the edge. "I hope it's okay that I'm saying this stuff, that I know this about you. It's just that my dad talks about you _all the time_. So I…feel like I know you really well."

Kate just smiled. "I feel like I know you too."

"I know he talks about me with you," Alexis said, her tone a little dry.

"All the time," she replied, laughing softly.

"Yeah." She tipped her head to one side, a Castle-like smirk on her face. "He calls you his work-wife, did you know that?"

Kate nodded, ducking her head. "Ah, he mentioned that once, yeah."

"And honestly…some of the advice that he's given me more recently…well, let's just say that I know it didn't come out of his head. I kind of feel like you've been mothering me from afar for years. So I just wanted to acknowledge that, say thanks."

"That's sweet, Alexis. But you really didn't need to do this."

"Oh, please." Castle's daughter waved a hand. "We're big gift-givers in our family, we can't help ourselves."

"I'd noticed," she commented quietly.

"So open it," Alexis urged, bobbing a little in her seat. "I hope you like it."

Kate reached for the bag, opening the small blue box inside. "Oh, it's really pretty…" she murmured as she drew from the box a simple silver bracelet.

"The locket opens," Alexis told her, leaning forward to finger the locket hanging from the chain links. "I thought you could put a picture of your parents in there. Or you know, if you have kids someday—" Her mouth opened and shut, working wordlessly for a moment. "I-I mean," she added hastily, "if that's something that you want. I know what an important job you have."

"Actually, it is," Kate murmured, eyes lowered to the bracelet. "Someday." She looked up after a moment, holding the gift in both hands. "This is really sweet, thankyou."

"You're welcome." Alexis cast a look over her desk, strewn with folders, then got to her feet. "Well, you look busy, I should let you get back to work. And I have a paper to write but I just wanted to say…Happy Mother's Day."

Kate got to her feet also, gave her a slightly awkward hug. "Thankyou."

Alexis took a few slow steps towards the elevator then turned back. "You know, I think you'll make a really amazing mom one day. And personally," she gave a sly little smile, "…I've always wanted a little brother or sister."

Kate chuckled, her eyes widening with embarrassment. "Wow. Well…you certainly inherited some of your dad's directness, didn't you?"

"Runs in the family," she shrugged. "We say what we think. It's both a blessing and a curse at times."

"You know…" Kate drew in a breath, shaking her head, "coming from a family that finds it hard to talk about anything, I'd say it's more of the former."

Alexis' gaze dropped to the floor, her face becoming serious. "My dad, he's…he's a really amazing father, you know."

"I know," she responded swiftly. Kate waved a hand at her. "I've seen."

"And he cares about you a lot. Like…a whole lot."

"I know that too."

"And I know he can be exasperating –_ beyond _exasperating," Alexis rolled her eyes, her voice gaining more momentum as she went on. "I know that sometimes it seems like he doesn't take anything seriously. But he's got a good heart, Detective Beckett. He's sweet and generous and loyal and when he loves someone, he just loves them to death. There is no limit to what he will do for them. He's one hundred percent committed, totally there, all in. And you will not shake him."

"I know, Alexis. And I care about your dad a lot too. Trust me, I'd never want to see him hurt." Kate stalled, her voice lowering almost to a whisper. "I'm hoping that one day things won't be so complicated. Someday, when the time is right…"

"I'll get my baby brother or sister?" Alexis prompted, an overly hopeful expression on her face.

She gave an uneasy laugh then put a hand on the girl's shoulder, turning her towards the exit. "We'll see."

"Hey, no pressure," Alexis babbled as she was ushered away. "But _I am_ off to College soon and who knows what after that and I don't want to miss out on all the fun. I don't want to be approaching, like _thirty_ or something when the little tyke comes along. And let's face it, it not like you guys are getting any younger—"

Kate cut her off as they reached the elevator, punching the down button. "Okay, well, I will definitely keep that in mind. But like I said…when the time is right."

"You will look after him though, won't you?" Alexis murmured, turning to face her. "When I'm gone? I mean, Gram does her best but she can be as much a child as he is and I worry about him without me there to take care of him."

"You don't have to worry," Kate assured her. "He's in safe hands."

"Good." The elevator dinged and opened. "Well, goodnight, Detective Beckett."

"Alexis, it's Kate. And thankyou for the gift and the thought." She held the door back while Alexis boarded then added, "And hey, I know you have an oversupply of moms but if ever you need anything, you know where I am."

"Thanks." Alexis smiled back, gave a little wave. "Night."

"Night."

Kate waited until the doors had closed over before wandering back to her desk. She laid the bracelet gently in the blue box but left it open on her desk. Then she unearthed the photos of her mother from beneath the pile of files. She hadn't been studying pictures of her mother's death. Rather, the photos she'd been contemplating were of her mother holding her when she was just a baby. There was one of her mom sitting up in her hospital bed, her usually perfectly coifed hair disheveled, her face tired but happy. A second photo showed her father perched on the side of the bed, both her parents gazing down at her ruddy, irritated face. Johanna had been her age when she'd become a mother. And it was not something she was instantly good at. For one thing, the conception had been an untimely surprise. For another, she'd had to learn quickly how to juggle the career she loved with the vital new being in her life. It was a challenge Kate was hoping she would soon face. And one that she hoped she could undertake with as much grace and success as her mother.

-x-

The following morning, she and Castle were ordering coffee from a Central park cart before heading to their next crime scene when he cast her a sidelong look and said:

"So Alexis told me about your talk last night." He smirked furtively. "That girl can't keep a secret to save her life."

"As someone who spends her life wading through other peoples' secrets," she replied evenly, "I gotta say that's a pretty good quality to possess." Beckett grabbed two large lids, handing him one. "You raised a good kid there, Castle."

"Yes, I did."

"And it was sweet of her to think of me."

"Yes, it was. But more to the point-" Castle curled a hand about her arm, lifting it between them and eying the silver bracelet encircling her wrist, "you really _do_ want to have Castle babies, don't you?"

She turned toward him, forehead creased. "Exactly how much of our conversation did Alexis share with you?"

Castle smiled. "Enough."

She rolled her eyes and extracted her wrist from his grip, turning to collect her coffee. "Is there anything your family _doesn't_ talk about?"

"Aside from the details of my mother's sex life? Not really." Castle collected his own coffee, along with a bear claw for Lanie, before trotting after her across the wet grass. "You should get used to it, you're practically part of the family now. And we talk, it's what we do best."

"I'd never have guessed that, knowing you," she muttered, grasping her coffee in two hands and taking a thirsty sip.

Castle was silent a mere moment, sidestepping some puddles but keeping pace with her long strides. "So just to be clear, is that a yes on the baby-making? Because I did not hear a denial."

"Castle."

"Right, no, absolutely," he murmured, immediately heeding the warning in her tone. "You think about it, take as long as you want. You know where I am when you need me."

"Yeah, I do," she mused, turning suddenly and causing him run right into her. "You're right there."

"And I will always be right there," he replied, front squished to her side, nose hovering inches from her cheek. She cocked her head to one side and Castle cleared his throat, taking a deliberate step back: "Or here, rather." Beckett began to turn but he caught her elbow, adding in a low voice, "Odds are, at some point, I will be in the right place at the right time. Odds are, someday, I will get lucky."

She took another long sip of coffee then smiled thoughtfully. "Maybe you will, Castle. Maybe you will." Smile still in place, she continued on her path towards the crime scene, knowing that Castle was only one step behind her. As always.

Three years later, Kate was still wearing the bracelet Alexis gave her for Mother's Day. Only now the locket contained a picture of a small boy with dark curly hair and bright blue eyes. She wore the bracelet to work each day, as a reminder of why she did what she did. Once, her job had been all about trying to apprehend death. Now, it was about honoring life. The bracelet from Castle's daughter had replaced her father's watch, just as the ring she'd worn for years around her neck had been replaced by a gold band with matching diamond ring, neither of which ever departed from her left hand. It wasn't that time had eradicated the pain of her past. But she didn't carry her loss with her anymore. Kate no longer lived in the past and no longer wondered about her future. Her someday had arrived and in it, she was stepmom to an amazing young woman, mother to a rascally baby boy, adopted daughter to a screwball matriarch and wife to a man who'd partnered, shadowed and adored her for years. Someday had taken its time in coming but it turned out to be so much sweeter than Kate Beckett had ever dared hope.

_END._


End file.
